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By Jon Machota Dec 19, 2020
FRISCO, Texas — Randy Gregory isn’t sure how much potential is untapped.
The Cowboys edge rusher has played in seven games this year, recording two sacks, three tackles for loss and nine quarterback hits. He believes more is in the tank. Multiple suspensions for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy have limited Gregory, 28, to playing in only 35 games over the past six seasons.
The 2015 second-round pick has the potential to make a bigger impact next year after experiencing a full offseason with the team, something that hasn’t happened recently because of the suspensions. Regardless of the defensive scheme or what happens in free agency and the draft, Gregory should have plenty of opportunities in 2021 to rush the passer on the opposite end of DeMarcus Lawrence.
Gregory, who is signed through the 2021 season, said this week that the thing he’s most proud of is that he never gave up on his NFL dream.
“I’ve had times where I’ve doubted myself,” he said. “I’ve had times where I wondered what life would be like without football. But the biggest thing for me, the biggest thing I’m most proud of is that I never gave up. At the end of the day, I believe that this is the place I need to be, around the people that are here. Football is the most natural thing for me, so I’m going to keep trying to be here. I’m going to keep coming back. I’m going to keep going out there and playing as hard as I can until I’m not wanted in this league anymore or they push me out of this league. I don’t know if that’s going to be today, I don’t know if that’s going to be a year from now, two years, five years, it doesn’t really matter to me. Just the fact that I continue to fight, continue to want to come back and play is really important to me.”
What was his motivation?
“Just that I knew I had more to offer as a player,” Gregory said. “And I just really couldn’t live with myself knowing that I missed out on an opportunity that I’ve been working for for 15 to 20 years now to this point. That’s all I talked about from age 8 to age 9, playing in youth leagues and telling my dad that I wanted to play in the NFL.
“I’ve invested so much time physically, mentally, emotionally to the sport that I’m just not ready to give up yet.”
Here are 10 other notes to get you ready for Sunday’s Cowboys-49ers game at AT&T Stadium.
1. Defensive assessment. Implementing a new defensive scheme in an offseason is difficult enough in person. It was made more difficult for Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Nolan and his staff when COVID-19 protocols limited their interaction to virtual meetings. Nolan mentioned that challenge when asked this week to evaluate the implementation of his defense this season.
“It’s been an unusual year for everyone,” Nolan said. “I think the biggest thing that has been the most difficult has been dealing with the virtual meetings and accomplishing, it’s such a hands-on profession, and teaching in this profession is like teaching a dancer. You got to put your hands on people a lot of times to show them things. Whether it’s the implementation of the defense, it all comes with technique. Everything you do is technique-oriented. So I would think, much like every other team that’s gone through the COVID this year, which is every team, it affects you. The difference would be for the four teams that came in with new staffs. But it’s affected each one of them differently as well.
“It’s just part of it to assess where it’s been and where it’s going. It’s really tough because there’s nothing to compare it to. Again, it’s nice that we played well (last Sunday). We got back on track. I thought there was a span there where we were having some good games, and I thought Baltimore was a little bit of a setback. So hopefully we can continue the next few weeks and play well.”
2. Where’s Reggie? Many have been hoping to see more of rookie defensive back Reggie Robinson. He was active on game day for the first time two weeks ago against the Ravens. He was active again last week against the Bengals. But the team’s fourth-round pick hasn’t played any defensive snaps and only four special-teams snaps.
So what does he have to do to get some defensive work in a game?
“I think the bigger thing coming from a smaller program like Tulsa is he’s got to get his hands around the game and what we’re trying to do from a defensive philosophy,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said Monday on 105.3 The Fan. “He’s certainly got the skills, he’s got the length, he’s got everything you want. Whether it’s at corner or safety, he’s shown some versatility that he could certainly compete at both. It’s just one of those years that it can take a little longer. We certainly think a lot of him, but he’s got to continue to improve and get better. We think that he will. We were having these same types of conversations about Trysten (Hill), how he wasn’t playing much, and some guys just take longer than others. Really, as you well know, Will (McClay) thought a lot of him coming out of Tulsa. Really think he’s got a bright future here.”
3. 20-year run. Every season from 1966 to 1985, Tom Landry led the Cowboys to a winning record. Dallas made 18 playoff appearances and won two Super Bowls during that stretch. No other team has recorded 20 consecutive winning seasons. Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots are riding a streak of 19 consecutive seasons with a winning record. New England has made the playoffs in 17 of those 19, winning six Super Bowls.
But getting No. 20 won’t be easy. The Patriots enter Sunday at 6-7, needing to win out to keep their streak alive. New England’s final three games are against the Miami Dolphins (8-5), Buffalo Bills (10-3) and New York Jets (0-13).
4. Flexed out. Linebacker Jaylon Smith did not know the Cowboys had been flexed out of their prime time “Sunday Night Football” game until he was asked about it by a reporter Thursday.
“I don’t focus on what’s happening in the future, I embrace each moment, each day,” the team’s leading tackler said. “If you think I’m lying, ask my lady, ask my people. I don’t even really be knowing who we play. When the schedule comes out, I don’t even know who we play. I just take it one day at a time and like I said, now that you guys are telling me this, my first thought is like, well, it’s a business.”
The Cowboys were originally scheduled to host the San Francisco 49ers Sunday at 7:20 p.m. on NBC. Their game was bumped to noon in favor of the Cleveland Browns at the New York Giants, a move likely made because the Cowboys and 49ers have combined to win only nine games this season.
Smith: “How does Jerry (Jones) feel about the situation? Is he hurt?”
Reporter: “He argued that noon is a good time, too.”
Smith (laughing): “Well, shit, if the owner ain’t trippin, we good.”
5. Injury updates. The Cowboys finally received some good news in the injury department this week. Several of their injured defensive backs were able to practice this week and should be available Sunday. Rookie cornerback Trevon Diggs (foot) returned to practice for the first time since Week 9 at Pittsburgh. Cornerback Anthony Brown (ribs) and safeties Xavier Woods (groin) and Donovan Wilson (groin) are expected to play as well. Starting corner Chidobe Awuzie is also returning after being on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
Running back Ezekiel Elliott (calf) didn’t practice all week but is also expected to play against the 49ers.
6. Aldon Smith interview. The starting edge rusher was this week’s guest on the team website’s “Cowboys Hour” show. Players usually spend the entire hour answering questions. However, Smith appeared only at the beginning of the show for about 13 minutes.
The interview was unlike any other that Smith has done since joining the Cowboys in April. He was very open about what he’s gone through this year and how he feels about the team.
“We have a talented group of people,” Smith said. “I think it’s really important for everybody to embrace and take pride in what they do. We can be great. We’re going to be great, we just need to believe in ourselves. We just need to work a little harder. And it’s a culture.
“I’ll explain it as simple as this, we suck right now,” he said. “But you want to know what, we have the guys on my team, I love these guys. We haven’t made the plays we need to make, but we will. Stick along for the ride. Shit happens. Bumps and bruises happen. But we’re going to get better. We lost a lot of key components that built the team. I’m just so excited about every single person that’s on this team and that we can make it work in the future.”
The final question Smith answered was whether he felt like he had to relearn the game after not playing the past four seasons.
“The most difficult part has been the bullshit that you have to deal with,” Smith said. “It’s not the physical. It’s the bullshit you have to deal with. By the bullshit, I mean, everything that comes along with playing the game. … I just want to be blunt, people deal with shit.”
7. Why haven’t the Cowboys returned to the Super Bowl in 25 years? Stephen Jones provided a lengthy response Friday.
“I would equate it, more than anything, to it’s just hard to get these things pulled off,” Jones said on The Fan. “We’ve had some great players, great coaches, whether it’s Coach Parcells, whether it’s Wade Phillips, whether it’s Jason Garrett, we’ve had some really good coaching where we had really good teams and really good players, and we just don’t quite get there.”
While talking about Cowboys teams he thought were close to getting back to the Super Bowl, Jones specifically mentioned the 2006 group that lost at Seattle in the wild-card round and the following year’s team that lost in the divisional round to the Giants, who went on to beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl.
“One thing Jerry has preached from the day he walked in the door, certainly to myself and our family, is we want to leave the Cowboys in a better place than we found them,” Stephen Jones said later in the interview. “And certainly, things have gone well for us. I think the Cowboys had two championships. Our family has been able to deliver three. Certainly, it’s not enough in our minds. We want more. We have a brand new stadium at AT&T Stadium. We have The Star, which is a premier practice facility. Our goal is to keep looking for ways to make the Cowboys better, but also the NFL better. And we’ll continue to strive to do that. Feel very blessed to be a part of it, but certainly feel very accountable to continue to improve, and certainly, we owe it to our fans to do a better job of delivering championship-caliber football teams.”
8. Why should Cowboys fans watch the final three games? Jerry Jones gave his sales pitch Friday morning.
“I like to be a little colorful and say our ball is oblong, which means when it hits the ground you don’t know which way it’s going,” he said on The Fan. “The game is designed to have a lot of, to overuse my favorite term, a lot of ambiguity. And there’s so much that can go on when you run a play or in a series, and so much that can happen for the outcome of a game. I certainly can dream of sugarplums if we can win these last three ball games.
“Now, there’s a lot of other things. I don’t even need to get into explaining it. But we win out, and I will say this: I sure should be allowed to see an Andy Dalton hitting on all cylinders, as I think he’s very capable of. Zeke, our offensive line, like the way they did against Baltimore and then played real good against Baltimore. I could see that happening. I could see a defense that gets in the groove better. I could see all of that.
“And I just have to think that way, and I do think that way. And I think that way about not just football, but I think that way about what gets the football down the field.”
9. Record-breaker. Cowboys long snapper L.P. Ladouceur will be playing in his 251st NFL game Sunday, a record for a Canadian-born player. Ladouceur is tied with former Cowboys kicker Eddie Murray at 250. Murray was drafted by the Detroit Lions in 1980. He played in his final game with Washington in 2000. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wrote a letter this week to congratulate Ladouceur on his accomplishment.
10. Hospital visits. The Cowboys were unable to make their annual local holiday hospital visits this year because of COVID-19. So they held them virtually Friday. Players met with patients at Cook Children’s Fort Worth, Texas Scottish Rite, Medical City Children’s Hospital and Children’s Dallas.
“I’m here to encourage them and let them know we are here to help them through their challenges,” rookie wide receiver CeeDee Lamb said. “I know we couldn’t do it in person this year, but they are still able to get the visual with the virtual visits. It would be better to be there in person, but we still tried to send them the love and comfort through these visits today.”
Added linebacker Leighton Vander Esch: “It was extremely important and special for us to still visit with the kids this year. We have an opportunity to cheer them up and put a smile on their face to help them with what they’re going through. It’s just being there for them, giving them some encouragement and just having fun with them. It’s important to do these kinds of things for our fans, especially the kids.”
